long-term services and supports

As baby boomers approach old age, many factors may be driving a growing divide between the demand for family caregivers and the number of available caregivers. This article highlights trends in family caregiving and changing patterns of family life that challenge the family's capacity to carry out its traditional functions in long-term services and supports (LTSS), describes the high cost of LTSS (including out-of-pocket spending), illuminates the future care gap, and explains the implications of these trends in the context of providing and paying for LTSS.

Projection models enable users to assess the costs and benefits of changes to long-term services and supports policies and to compare policy options, using a consistent set of underlying assumptions. Outlined are key challenges model developers face, including data limitations, difficulties anticipating potential behavioral responses, the need to assign appropriate benchmarks, the value of family care and intangibles like autonomy and quality of life, and grappling with uncertainty.